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Adaptive Strategies:

Adaptive Strategies:. Horticulture. Functional Consequences. Tribes or Chiefdoms Larger, more stable groups Sendentary or semi-sendentary villages Division of labor by sex & age Some specialization Egalitarian, with some stratification Private ownership of resources Larger kinship groups

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Adaptive Strategies:

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  1. Adaptive Strategies: Horticulture

  2. Functional Consequences • Tribes or Chiefdoms • Larger, more stable groups • Sendentary or semi-sendentary villages • Division of labor by sex & age • Some specialization • Egalitarian, with some stratification • Private ownership of resources • Larger kinship groups • Recognized leadership positions • Territoriality & conflict over land • Polytheistic, ancestor worship

  3. Horticulture • EXTENSIVE cultivation • Forests—requires large expanse of land, more investment in land • Feed 10X as many as H&G • Hand tools

  4. Swidden, Slash-and-Burn, Shifting Horticulture Clear let dry burn

  5. Nutrient poor – nutrients are in trees/plants • Ash provides nutrients (potassium), kills pests

  6. Inter-cropping Symbiotic relationship

  7. Cultivate 1-3 years, abandon • Long fallow (10-12 years)

  8. Kayapó Example • Division of labor based on age groups & gender • Complimentary tasks: • Men & boys fell trees, burn • Women plant, weed, harvest • Exchange of products from gardening, hunting, fishing

  9. Cultigens – 100s of Years of Selection • Knowledge of ecology • Clouds • River stages • Mosaic of soil types • Timing of burning (before rains)

  10. Circular Fields: • Center—Sweet potato high solar energy efficiency, drought resistant, tolerant of sun • Monocrop, more frequent burning, weeding, soil aeration • Second—Manioc, yams, corn, beans, cotton, sugar cane, annatto (achiote) • Diversity, lowest soil fertility, crops tolerant of low nutrients • Outer—Bananas, papaya, nutrient -rich soils, receive nutrients from forest canopy • Long-producing perennials

  11. Apêtê (forest islands) • A complex form of soil management • Increases biodiversity, attracts plants, animals • LITTER, TERMITE NESTS, ANT NESTS to create compost • Long fallow for reforestation • Dispersed fields limit plant diseases, pests

  12. Variety of Activities • Plant new gardens • Transplant plants to enhance availability along forest trails • Nuture forest plants by weeding • Also hunt, fish, gather • Trekking during dry season

  13. KAYAPO RECOGNIZE 120 SPECIES OF PLANTS: • 72% MEDICINAL • 40% FOOD • 25% FIREWOOD • 12% FERTILIZERS • 8% SHADE • 30% OTHER (DYE FOR BODY PAINTING, ETC.) If you were in a tropical rainforest, how well could you survive?

  14. Kayapó Diet & Change • Pre-contact: sweet potatoes, palm hearts, meat • Post-contact: manioc, rice, beans, coffee • Manioc is processed into farinha, is labor intensive, requires machinery

  15. Food & Politics • Women share harvest with husbands, children, parents, brothers • Men share meat with women • But—since fuel & lubricants for the manioc grinder are dispersed by the chief, men & women are obliged to conform to the organization & tempo directed by the chief • Sweet potatos are independent of chiefly control, thus involve ongoing reciprocity

  16. Meat • Meat preparation is centralized & controlled by elder men • Men hunt in age grades, deliver meat to elders, who cook & distribute it • Rights to certain parts are inherited, but conflicts arise; elders must keep the peace • Unmarried youth & parents are prohibited from eating the stomach & intestines • Men also hunt armadillos & tortoises • Fish using poison from timbo vines

  17. Kayapó Society • Population – 200-700 • Politically autonomous villages • Rainy season-remain in village • Dry season-trekking • Several nuclear families share a residence & food

  18. Kayapó Age Grades • Each of 7 or 8 age grades has privileges & obligations • Age 1-3 • Receive ritual names • 2 groups for boys, 2 for girls • Boys @ age 10 • Move into men’s house • Each is assigned to a warrior who teaches the customs

  19. Warriors • Are initiated at age 15 • Have prestige, but no family obligations • Maintain order • Parents • Join 1 of 2 cooperative work groups

  20. Men’s Societies & “Chiefs” • Work as a group to hunt, garden, collect Brazil nuts • Men must participate to acquire trade goods needed for their production • The chief owns canoes & provides fuel (+farinha technology) thus men must be in good standing to borrow these • The chief controls collective activities, so household autonomy is illusory

  21. Each village has 1-2 chiefs with no authority • But they are the ones with access to outside technology • They control by creating loyalties through distribution of trade goods

  22. Kayapó are matrilineal & matrilocal -Monogamy -Arranged marriages -Adultery • Kayapó have shamans • Sorcery is the cause of illness

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